Contents

History

Before First Curse

Aurora is born to Briar Rose and King Stefan of an unnamed kingdom, where they preside in a palace. From her parents, she knows Maleficent once cursed her mother into an eternal sleep before her father awakened her with true love's kiss. Years later, Aurora is set to wed Prince Phillip, and while happily brushing her hair one night, Maleficent approaches her. The dragoness admits she has thought about killing Briar Rose and King Stefan, but that it would be much better to allow them to live and see what she will do to their daughter. Aurora tries running, but Maleficent catches her by the arm. The princess attempts to intimidate her with the prospects of true love's kiss, which will break any curse. Instead, Maleficent reveals she has an equally as satisfying curse for Phillip that will keep him from saving Aurora. As the girl is shouting in mid-protest, Maleficent pierces her with the sleeping curse, rendering her asleep almost instantly. ("Enter the Dragon")

Since then, Aurora remains in a peaceful slumber on the palace bier. While she is asleep, the Evil Queen casts the Dark Curse over the Enchanted Forest. Due to the effects of Cora's protection spell around a piece of surrounding land, Aurora is not taken by the curse and time becomes frozen in the Enchanted Forest for twenty-eight years. ("Pilot", "Broken")

Twenty eight years later, the savior breaks the Dark Curse and lifts the remaining inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest from their frozen states. Prince Phillip and his travelling companion, Mulan, reach the palace to find Aurora asleep under the Sleeping Curse. With true love's kiss, he releases her from the curse. They have a brief, happy reunion that is interrupted by the appearance of a soul-sucking creature called the Wraith. Unbeknownst to Aurora and Mulan, Prince Phillip is marked for death by the being's Wraith Amulet. Afterwards, they journey on and stop in the woods to set up camp for the night. Prince Phillip goes off alone, promising Aurora that he will come back. The two women discover too late where he has actually disappeared to. Aurora exhibits jealousy towards Mulan, believing the woman to be in love with Prince Phillip, though the latter attests that she only considers him a friend. They arrive in time to witness him sacrifice his soul to the Wraith. Devastated, the two women lay Prince Phillip's body on the palace bier. Mulan briefs Aurora about the Dark Curse, and what happened to their land while she was still under the Sleeping Curse. As they prepare to leave, a noise startles them. Under a pile of rubble, they find two women, Emma and Mary Margaret, unconscious. Mulan blames the strangers as the culprits in Prince Phillip's death. ("Broken")

Aurora and Mulan ride away from the palace while forcing the women to follow along with their hands tied. They reach a Safe Haven where many survivors inhabit the area. Mary Margaret attempts to escape by kicking Aurora, giving Emma a head start, but Mulan throws a weapon to bring her down. Then, Emma and an unconscious Mary Margaret are thrown into a holding pit. ("We Are Both")

The leader of the Safe Haven, Lancelot, requests to speak with Emma and Mary Margaret. He recognizes Mary Margaret as Snow White and they have a warm reunion. Since Lancelot trusts them, Mulan lets down her guard. Aurora, on the other hand, mistrusts Lancelot, and still holds the two newcomers responsible for Prince Phillip's death. Mulan warns her not to confuse vengeance with justice. Up front, Aurora reluctantly lets the subject drop, but holds onto a knife for later use. Lancelot decides to let Mulan accompany Emma and Mary Margaret on a journey as they try to find a way back to their home, Storybrooke. Aurora secretly follows them. Once Mary Margaret is alone, she brandishes the knife on her. While openly berating the woman as the cause of Prince Phillip's death, Aurora is easily overpowered. Mary Margaret states that she knows what it's like to lose someone, too, but what happened is not her fault. Mulan intervenes to promise she will handle Aurora. Emma, however, reacts defensively by firing a gunshot into the air. The noise attracts ogres, so they split up until Mary Margaret takes the creature down with an arrow to the eye. When they arrive at an abandoned castle, Aurora and Mulan keep watch at the gate while Emma and Mary Margaret go inside. By chance, Cora, disguised as Lancelot, ambushes the pair inside the castle. As a battle ensues, Mulan and Aurora hear the commotion and rush to help. During the commotion, the magic wardrobe Emma and Mary Margaret planned to use for returning home is burned to ash. The four regroup with plans to head back to the Safe Haven while Aurora agrees to help Emma and Mary Margaret find another way home as the challenge will give her a way to channel her anger. ("Lady of the Lake")

On their return to the Save Haven, all the survivors are found dead with their hearts ripped out, except for one Aurora discovers beneath a pile of bodies. The man explains Cora attacked the camp, and he only survived by hiding under some dead bodies, but Emma is not buying the story and pulls a knife on his throat in an attempt to squeeze the truth out. When he keeps to his story, she ties him to a tree as bait for the ogres, though Aurora believes the man may be telling the truth. Unable to best Emma, the man reveals himself as Captain Hook. Though he was working with Cora, Hook offers to help Emma and Mary Margaret retrieve an item necessary for the journey home to Storybrooke. Later, he leads them to a giant beanstalk, and at the very top is a magical compass guarded by a giant. ("The Doctor")

At the beanstalk, Aurora volunteers to go up as she has no one left in this world, and has nothing to lose, but is overridden when Emma prefers to take her own chances. After Emma's departure up the beanstalk with Hook, Mulan suggests each of them should take turns on watch duty. Though Mary Margaret volunteers for first watch, Aurora would rather not sleep since nightmares are keeping her awake. With reassurance from Mary Margaret, Aurora decides to get some shut-eye. She falls asleep, but wakes up screaming in terror. Aurora describes to Mary Margaret a dream atmosphere of being trapped in a room devoid of windows or doors with red curtains and flames as another person, a man, staring at her. Mary Margaret tries her best to coax Aurora back to sleep. Much time passes, Mulan sees Emma has still not come back from the beanstalk, so she moves to cut it down. Aurora doesn't understand why, though Mulan's efforts are stopped after being tackled to the ground by Mary Margaret. Luckily, Emma jumps down from the beanstalk in time. Aurora inquiries about Hook's whereabouts. Emma, distrustful of the pirate, replies he is being watched so they can have a ten-hour start to get ahead. ("Tallahassee")

While once again asleep, Aurora reappears in the same enclosed room being engulfed by flames. Unable to defend herself, she is saved when the other person in the room, a young boy, uses a necklace to put out the fire out. Without the blaze separating them, he convinces Aurora not to be afraid and tells her his name, Henry. Pulled out of the dream, Aurora reaches consciousness with alarm and tells Emma, with great urgency, the name of the boy she met. ("Child of the Moon")

Shocked, Emma shows Aurora a photo of Henry, which she confirms is the boy in her dream. To clarify why this is happening, Mary Margaret explains her own experience in the Netherworld, a place Aurora has also been, due to awakening from the sleeping curse. Aurora is upset that she wasn't informed of this before, though Mary Margaret reasons it was necessary to keep her from worrying. Deciding Henry must be contacted again, the group agree Aurora should go back to sleep later and speak with him. As they walk through the forest, Mulan notices burns on Aurora's arm, which are a side effect from travelling to the Netherworld, but the princess lies about getting it from poison ivy. Shrugging off the subject, Aurora focuses on being helpful, and will be doing it with or without Mulan's approval. Returning to sleep, she sees Henry through smoke and combustion, where he tries to tell her about the squid ink they need from Rumplestiltskin's cell at the palace ruins in order to defeat Cora. However, she can't hear him and is eventually startled awake by Mulan as Cora's army of heartless victims ambush them. They flee, but Mulan is pinned down by one of the creatures while Aurora is dragged away by another and imprisoned in the Safe Haven cell. There, she learns Cora intends to trade her for the compass. When the older woman suggests she has already forgotten about Phillip, Aurora denies it, leading Cora to admit there is a way to regain his soul from another world. Cora promises, for her cooperation, she'll reveal how to revive him. Unswayed, Aurora refuses and stands up to Cora, who uses magic to fling her against the wall. While out cold, Hook steals Aurora's heart with intentions of giving it to Cora later. He then shakes the girl awake, allowing her to escape as a means to foil Cora's plans, and asks her to tell Emma that she should have trusted him. Running back to her companions, Aurora reunites with them in time to break up a scuffle between Mary Margaret and Mulan. She explains how Hook helped her escape and delivers his message to Emma. Brought up to speed with their next plan, Aurora heads with them to Rumplestiltskin's old cell to find squid ink. ("Into the Deep")

Once at the cell, Aurora discovers a parchment note with Emma's name written all over it. Upon further searching of the premises, Aurora, manipulated by Cora, picks up a rock and throws it at a switch; closing the cell. Out of the darkness, Cora reveals Aurora's heart is in her control, and squeezes it as a demonstration, causing much pain to the girl. After Cora and Hook have left, Mary Margaret realizes there is squid ink on the parchment, and melts away the cell bars with it. As they leave, Aurora consents to staying behind since Cora still has her heart, to which Mulan ties her up as a precaution. A short time later, Mulan returns with the heart and restores it to Aurora's body. In turn, Aurora tells her the information Cora shared about Prince Phillip's soul. The pair set off together to find a way to bring him back. ("Queen of Hearts")

Through unknown means, Aurora and Mulan retrieve Phillip's soul. By the beach's shoreline, the trio come across an unconscious man. They take him back to the palace and tend to his injuries. Once he awakens, Aurora and Prince Phillip rush over to examine the stranger. They learn his name is Neal. Judging from his surprised reaction to where he is, Aurora deducts Neal must be a native to the Enchanted Forest, but Mulan points out his clothes are foreign and similar to Emma and Mary Margaret's. At the mention of Emma's name, Neal tries to explain that he needs to save her from harm. When he brings up Henry, Aurora recognizes him as the boy's father and promises to help find his son. She tries her best to seek out Henry in the Netherworld, but the attempt is unsuccessful. In an alternative plan, Neal decides to go to his father's old castle to look for something that might help reach his loved ones while Mulan accompanies him. ("And Straight On 'Til Morning", "The Heart of the Truest Believer")

At her palace, Aurora is busy straightening up the palace gardens when Mulan arrives back with news she wants to share. Coincidentally, so does Aurora, who excitedly confirms she and Prince Phillip are expecting their first child. Mulan reacts with shock, but quickly congratulates her. She waits to hear her friend's news, to which Mulan announces her intent to join Robin Hood's band of Merry Men. Sadly, Aurora watches her abruptly depart from the palace grounds. ("Quite a Common Fairy")

Before Second Curse

Aurora greets Prince Phillip as he rides up to the pavilion where she awaits him. They share a romantic moment talking about having an expanding family once their child is born. Suddenly, a purple smoke startles them and they see Prince Charming and Snow White, accompanied by many other former inhabitants, have come back to the Enchanted Forest. While talking to Prince Charming, Snow White and Regina, she mentions the old palace is still in good condition. Aurora and Prince Phillip provide the group with horses, per Prince Charming's request, as they all head out to the palace. In private, Aurora insists to Prince Phillip that they should let "her" know about everyone's return. Prince Phillip isn't keen on the idea until Aurora expresses fears that if she discovers they hid the truth, their unborn child will pay the consequence. ("New York City Serenade")

Just as Snow White intends to make a public announcement to the kingdom's citizens concerning her current pregnancy, Belle reports that Neal sacrificed his life to resurrect Rumplestiltskin and the Dark One is now controlled by the Wicked Witch, Zelena. While everyone ponders what the witch wants from them, Aurora and Prince Phillip admit Zelena desires Snow White's unborn child, and they were forced to keep quiet on the matter or risk the safety of their own child. As soon as this revelation is exposed, Zelena arrives to turn the pair into flying monkeys as punishment. ("A Curious Thing")

While raising her son, who is also given the name Phillip, Aurora adjusts to life in Storybrooke and begins attending meetings for first-time mothers, Mommy & Me, run by Ashley. Besides Aurora, Mary Margaret and her son, Neal, also attend. As they finish a session, everyone sings a song to their babies. Ashley then announces she made CDs so they can learn new songs for their next get-together. Aurora questions what a CD is, and Mary Margaret tells her it's similar to a music box that plays sounds. When Emma arrives to pick up Neal for babysitting, she asks if the meetings are for learning baby tips, but Ashley explains it's also a support group of sorts since its not easy being a first-time mother. Emma is perturbed by this, since Mary Margaret is learning everything for the first time despite Neal being her second child, but she attempts to sympathize with her mother's circumstances. Instead, Emma's jealousy comes out in the form of magic when she unknowingly causes Neal's bottle of milk to boil. Aurora, Ashley and Mary Margaret are shocked by this, but Emma sputters that it's just magic she's been practicing. ("The Snow Queen")

Trivia

Character Notes

Production Notes

The casting call described her as, "female, early to mid 20s. Born into a life of wealth and privilege, [Aurora] was raised every bit the polished princess. But beneath the shiny veneer of a spoiled young girl beats the heart of a woman willing to sacrifice everything for love."[1]